Of Seniors, Peers, Wardens and Ghosts

When I first stepped into the hostel in 1976 I was so amazed with the school that I was supposed to stay in and study. It was a boarding school somewhere in Cheras in KL. Things were totally different back in 1976. There were almost 700 of us in the school. It was a different environment altogether for a foolish kampung boy like me who came all the way from Pasir Mas, Kelantan. I was only 11 years and 4 months old that very day. Yes I skipped my standard 2 session and entered standard 3 straight away because I was in the 'Express Class'. It was a normal practice in the education system during those years.

My late mother, my eldest late brother Abang Pa and my 7th brother Abang Nan who was studying in UTM were there to send me. We were greeted by a Sixth Former Prefect whom I called Abang Leman (Dato' Sulaiman Shafie, former Speaker for Perlis State Assembly). Later on I found out that he was my Dorm Leader and became my 'abang angkat'. Abang Pa gave me RM15 and told me that's my first pocket money for the whole month and I didn't really know how and from where I was supposed to get my money for the following months. From then on I was left to be on my own and it was a really new and quite scary experience with total strangers around you.

Luckily Abang Leman was very responsible to his younger brothers in his dorm. Abang Leman was a very interesting character indeed. He stands at only 5' 3'' but has a heart of a lion. He was born in Perlis but also had some relatives in Kelantan. One of his nephews, Ghaffar happened to be my former classmate in Pasir Mas. Abang Leman was a very fluent orator and he just love to debate with his friends especially with his sparing partner Abang Rosli (Dato' Ahmad Roseli Ibrahim, former Kelantan State Assemblyman). They would just find any issue that ever crossed their minds and started a debate. A weird kind of hobby indeed. Abang Leman had always admired the late Tun Razak. I saw him wept when the late Tun Razak's demise was announced in the morning news. During his happy hours Abang Leman would play his accordion a couple of tunes. My friend Yusri or Mat Yus would sometimes play the accordion while Abang Leman was not around. He was a talented friend too.

We had a love hate relationship with Abang Leman. It's normal that school boys would hate prefects but would turn back to them whenever help is needed. We were only form one students and definitely were the mischievous lot. We just love to make noise especially during weekends. We called Abang Leman 'Spy Leman' because of his ability to catch us red handed while we were enjoying ourselves fooling around and making noise in the dorm. The best part was the punishment. There was no detention class or cleaning the toilet chores but we were made to sleep on the lawn outside our dormitories. But that added more fun to us. It was like camping out under the stars and moon light. I also had a few punishments myself. Frankly, we actually enjoyed it. Heheheh....

Abang Leman held a very important post in the Scouts movement. He was the Assistant Scout Master 1. Most of us in the dorm joined The Scouts because he told us that he would make sure that we enjoy joining the Scouts, and we really did. Abang Leman had taught us a lot about jungle survival. He organised a few camping activities the Scouts' way. We learned to make gadgets from Tembusu woods that we obtained from our Tembusu Camp at the back of the school compound. It was situated next to an abandoned mining pool. We learned the hard way in Tembusu Camp. I learned to cook in the rain, cut trees, sleeping on the trees while hiding from wild boars and rescueing one of our friends who was bitten by a centipede while sleeping inside the tent in Tembusu Camp when we were only 12 or 13 years old. Actually our school was situated at the entrance to Kampung Conggo or now Bandar Tun Razak. Some senior scouts had the chance to compete in the KL Scouts Jamboree at Castle Camp with teams from St. John's, Victoria Institution, La Salle School and other strong teams. After Abang Leman left school for UKM Abang Ibrahim Seman took over and it was also fun. We even camped out in Templer's Park with the Sixth Former Seniors including Abang Dud (Sa'adudin Sa'ad) and Abang Zol(Dato' Zolkeples Embong, Director General of Malaysian Sports Council).

We even had the chance to experience the Ist Class Scout badge test when I was in Form 2. The test was called Ist Class Journey where we had to endure the test of hiking a 60 miles journey around KL and Selangor in a team of only 2 boy scouts while collecting proof of our journey such as official chops(stamping) from Police Stations, Petrol Kiosks, The Museum, The Batu Caves Authorities, The Rubber Research Institute and many more. No hitch hiking nor using any public transport. We had to camp out, which we never did. My partner was Shamsul Baharin. We took the bus back to school and continued our journey the next morning. I only had RM5 in my pocket for food and bus fares and could only afford to buy air sirap to quench my thirst. We had to catch our meals during dinner back at the hostel. The journey was really a gruelling one when you had to bear with the scorching heat, dusty roads, had nothing to eat and being asked so many questions by the police and kiosk clerks. Pheww... My scouting experience was a very interesting experience.

Abang Leman once led us to climb the Cheras Hill (Bukit Cheras) which was situated next to the Cheras Christian Cemetery. We started climbing on one fine Sunday morning but before climbing we bought a few watermelons at the foot of the hill which were only sold at 15 sen per kilogram in those days. We walked through a small 'setinggan' area called Kampung Semerah Padi. I am not sure whether the kampung nor the Bukit Cheras still exist anymore, which I don't think so. We reached the peak after quite a while and were amazed with the landscapes of KL for our very first time. We could watch the Air Force planes landing and taking off at the Sungei Besi Airport from the top of the hill while enjoying the sweet and juicy watermelons. After resting for an hour we started our downhill journey of sliding and tumbling adventure. Bukit Cheras was quite steep indeed, but we managed to survive unhurt.

My scouting adventure was a very valuable experience in my life. I learned the hard way of collecting donations during the Scouts Job Week in 1977. Me and my partner Pakharuddin went all around Taman Midah, Cheras Baru, Kampung Conggo, Salak South, Sungei Besi Army Camp doing jobs such as cleaning dishes at the stalls, sweeping the garage floors and many other chores just to get a few cents and the most a dollar (RM1). If my 12 year old son were to do those things now, I would have surely objected or maybe took him back to stay at home comfortably. I will continue about hostel life in my next post...